plus, matthew dowd, donna brazile and maggie haberman of politico. >>> hello again. we're heading into the home stretch of this campaign. just 37 days before the final votes, with all eyes on this week's first debate. the candidates are hunkering down in debate camp. our guests are ready to weigh in on where the race stands. what to expect wednesday? white house adviser david plouffe standing by for the president. but let's begin with the romney camp, and the man who kicked off the republican convention last month, new jersey governor chris christie. good morning. >> good morning, george. >> since the convention, romney has fallen behind in the battlegrounds. new polls out this morning, ohio and iowa, behind in both. governor romney has to shake things up wednesday night. doesn't he? >> he's going to, i mean, every time mitt romney has been confronted in this campaign with one of these moments, he has come through in the debate and performed extraordinarily well. laying out his vision very clearly, and contrasting himself and his vision to whoever the opponent was at